Crossing Paths
by Islanda
Summary: After Tom's death, everyone finds out that they're only going to have more problems to deal with, inside and outside the family. Sequel to Family Ties! Officially off hiatus!
1. Chapter 1

Wow…I guess I'm getting this sequel out a lot faster then planned! But that's a good thing, right? (:

Just a side note for everyone reading; updates will probably _not _be too regular, due to the fact that I now have a job, and I'm fairly busy! Don't worry though; I likely won't go a month without updating this fic. I'll try my best!

Also, if you haven't read Family Ties and you want to read this, you might want to, or else you might get slightly confused at times….:P

Anyway, here it goes!

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As I heard a light knock on my door, I smiled slightly as I rolled around. The sweet smell of fresh pancakes entered my nostrils as I opened my eyes. I looked around and saw Elliot standing at the door, smiling as he held my breakfast in his hands.

"Morning sunshine!" he smiled that perfect smile of his as he spoke.

I smiled back as I sat up in bed.

"Morning," I yawned as I stretched my arms out. Elliot looked at me, and laughed.

"So do you want breakfast in bed again, or do want to come out into the kitchen today and eat?" Elliot asked.

"I think I'll eat in the kitchen this morning!" I giggled, thinking of how I was always too lazy to get up, and how Elliot always fed me in breakfast in bed.

"Alright, just come out when you're ready!" Elliot told me excitedly as he left the room and went back downstairs.

I smiled and thought about what had happened in my life the past few months, and how it had really turned my life around. Dad's funeral was about 5 months ago now, and dare I admit it, but it kind of did a lot of good for me. I had a chance to think and regret a lot of the stuff I had done over the past few years, and it helped me come to terms with a lot of my past. I had to face my family again at the price of my dad's life, but it did pay off. I talked to my mom a few times a month now, and Elliot and I came by to visit her a few weeks ago. She really misses dad along with the rest of us, but she is doing alright, and a lot better then we thought she would be.

As I walked over to my closet and picked out an outfit for the day, I thought about Elliot too. He didn't know about a lot of my past, and I knew I had to tell him at some point, but I didn't know how to tell him, or when to tell him. I did know that I was falling in love with him though. He had done so much to help me the past few months. We went out a few times, then asked me to move in with him to make it easier since things were going great, and we lived too far away. He didn't want to rush anything, so he told me he had a bunch of extra bedrooms, and that I could have my own. It was a kind gesture, and I really appreciated it.

It turned out that Elliot was living in his house up at Lake Winnetka, so just coming there brought back a lot of memories. It was around November when I moved up, so we couldn't do any water skiing, knee boarding, or anything in the lake, but we knew that once spring rolled around, it would be one of the first things we would do together.

As I got dressed, I walked around to the other side of my room and looked out the window. The lake was covered in a thick layer of snow, and it was gorgeous. Everything around the little town here was gorgeous in February. I used to only come up here and see the area in the summer, but now I knew why some people wanted to live up here year round. It was a nice, wonderful place to live.

It turned out that my brother, Charlie, had ended up buying Mike Romano's place across the lake. He now lived there with his wife, Anne, and two girls, Lily and Amber. We saw them often, and we sometimes babysat the kids if they waned to go out and do something. It was always nice to have family close to you. I missed having that familiar feeling the past few years, and it was great to have back.

I pushed my thoughts away as I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth quickly before I ate breakfast. I then walked downstairs, and found Elliot making me more pancakes. I sat down, and noticed that my plate was now empty.

"Elliot, what happened to the other pancakes?" I asked.

Elliot smiled at me.

"They got cold, so I ditched them, and decided to make you some fresh ones," he explained.

"Oh…you didn't have to do that!" I protested. "I could've just warmed them up you know!"

Elliot shrugged.

"Oh well," he smiled. "We had a ton of extra batter, so I thought why not!"

Elliot then brought the pan over, and dumped the warm pancakes on my plate. He brought over a glass of orange juice, and grabbed the maple syrup out of the fridge. He smiled at him in thanks, and grabbed my utensils, taking my first bite.

I smiled at Elliot.

"These are great!" I commented after I swallowed. He did make really good pancakes…

Elliot laughed.

"Thanks!" he smiled. "So, anything special you wanted to do today?" he asked.

I shrugged.

"Well, I have to work from 1 till 5," I reminded him. "Did you want to do something after that?" I asked.

"I dunno. Calvin invited us to some party of his at some bar in the city tonight…did you want to go?" he asked me.

I sighed.

"I'll go with you, but I don't drink…so I won't be that much fun."

Okay, so I know I had to tell Elliot about me being an alcoholic in the past at some point, and it had to be sometime soon…I just didn't know how, or when to tell him! He'd probably break it off with me if he knew-no one would want someone who's been in trouble like that before.

"Sarah, it's alright," Elliot told me. "I know why you don't drink," he told me shyly. Looking in his eyes, I knew he was scared for my reaction.

I tried to stay calm.

"H…how did you know?" I asked.

Elliot shrugged.

"It gets around," he explained. "Charlie told me few weeks ago, and I didn't really want to bring it up with you unless I had to," he added.

I didn't know what to say to that…I didn't think that Charlie would cut into our relationship and reveal things like that, but was I ever wrong. I was going to get pretty mad next time I saw him, that's for sure!

"Don't worry about it though," Elliot told me, walking over and grabbing my hand. "I've been through some stuff too, so I know how it feels, sort of."

My eyes widened as I stared at him.

"Y...you have?" I asked.

Elliot sat down and sighed.

"In high school, I was big time onto weed and smoking anything I could get a hold of pretty much," Elliot explained. "I've quit though, and haven't touched any of it in years," he reassured me. "Don't worry Sarah, you're not alone…I know what you've been through," Elliot forced a smile as he rubbed my back.

As Elliot talked about him smoking, I immediately thought of Mike, and wondered how he was doing. Maybe he would finally come to his senses and quit too.

"Thanks Elliot," I smiled as I leaned in for a hug. He smiled and gave me a small peck on the lips. I immediately felt so much closer to him then I already did, knowing that we had overcome similar things in the past. His safe, gentle touch made me never want to let go of him ever again.

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And there is the first chapter of Crossing Paths! I hope you enjoyed it!

Thanks for reading guys! Review? I'd love to see some! (:

~Lauren


	2. Chapter 2

Time for another chapter! I probably won't get around to updating this too much unfortunately since I started a Christmas fic before it was too late, so I'll be updating that the most. My updates will go like this: Crossing Paths, Christmas fic, other fic, Christmas fic, Crossing Paths, and the pattern continues! So this will be…every fourth update! I'm actually balancing it out rather well though, well for me at least…so it shouldn't usually be any more then 3 weeks wait. I'm trying my best though!

And since we ended off the last chapter with Mike, why don't we go check in with him? ;)

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Mike sighed as he listened to his teacher go on and on about law. He had taken law at Harvard, one of the best law schools in the world, but he honestly had no idea what he was doing there. He had no intensions on being a lawyer, or anything to do with law. He wasn't here for himself, that was for sure. Maybe he did it, just to show his family he could accomplish something, by getting into a good school to study an important thing. Mike didn't know.

It wasn't that Mike cared what his family thought of him, or did with him; he had stopped caring about that a long time ago. Mike just needed to be good at something, since everyone else in the family seemed to be because they had managed to have mom and dad actually care about them and what they did with their life.

Everyone cared more when Sarah left. Even he himself had cared then, but not for long after that. No one had noticed the change in Mike; they were too busy, wondering what had happened with Sarah. No one had noticed when he had started smoking. He only did it because he hoped it would get their attention, and it still hadn't. He still didn't know if anyone in his family knew he smoked.

Mike shook his thoughts away as the teacher started to speak.

"Alright class, now that you know the basics of how a trial works, I think you're ready for your next assignment!" the teacher spoke with enthusiasm as most of the class, including Mike groaned. "In assigned pairs, you guys are going to perform the scene of a trial!"

Mike sighed. He hated having to socialize with people. It wasn't that he was shy; he just pretty much hated most people in general. Nothing against them, it was just his nature nowadays. People just weren't Mike's thing.

As the teacher called out names of the pairs, Mike found himself partnered with a girl named Aria Smith. He didn't know much about her, but she always seemed to be laughing or giggling with her friends in class. She had nice, natural, buttery locks, and big blue crystal eyes. She had a small nose, and small, nicely shaped lips to match. She was of average height, and got fairly high marks.

They were instructed to switch seats for the next few weeks so they could work with their partner, since this project was going to count for a lot. Aria moved her things over to the seat at the table next to Mike. She didn't look at him, or say anything as she sat down. Weird. You usually couldn't get her to stop talking.

"Okay everyone, look at the options for your trial on the handout I'm about to give you; one person will be the lawyer, the other will be the defendant," he told them.

As Mike got the handout, he looked at the options. rape case, murder case and drug addict case. He turned to face Aria.

"So which one do you want to do?" he asked her.

Aria bit her lip and shrugged.

"Whatever one you want to do is fine," she mumbled.

Mike sat there, puzzled. This didn't seem like the Aria he saw in class everyday. She was usually always talking, laughing or something! He was kind of glad though, then he wouldn't have to talk much.

"So is a murder case alright?" I asked her.

"I guess," Aria mumbled again.

Mike groaned.

"Is that a yes or a no?" he asked, getting angry. "Do you want to do a murder case, or not?" he yelled.

Aria flinched back in her seat as he spoke. She opened her mouth to respond, but immediately closed it again nervously.

Mike sighed and rushed his hands through his hair. He didn't want to scare the poor girl…he guessed that his social skills weren't really up to par, since socializing wasn't exactly his thing.

"I'm sorry…I'm just looking for a straight answer, okay?" Mike looked Aria in the eyes as he spoke, hoping to calm her down. She nodded slowly in response.

"I'm fine with doing a murder case," she answered, still looking a little nervous.

"Alright, just…jot down some ideas I guess," Mike told her.

As Mike was starting to get some ideas, there was a knock on the door. The teacher answered it, and the runner handed him a note. He nodded his thanks, then closed the door. To his surprise, the teacher started walking over towards Mike, and for an even bigger surprise, the note was handed to him.

Aria sat there, intrigued as Mike opened the note. He read it, then folded it up immediately, stuffing it in his bag. He grabbed his bag and turned to leave. Aria ran up to him, stopping him.

"I…is everything okay?" she asked.

Mike shrugged, and walked away from her, exiting the room, ignoring the teacher calling him back into the class as he slammed the door shut. Mike didn't care. He needed to get away from here, and ignore the note, and reality.

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I'm so sorry for the super short chapter, and for the little cliff-hanger…I did promise more tragedies for this story though, right? ;)

I hope you guys don't mind that I added an OC into the story, but later on in the story, Aria will have a rather important role.

Next chapter should be up within the next 2 weeks, maybe sooner…depends on how much I work. Thanks for reading guys! I'd love it if you review! :D

~Lauren! (:


	3. Chapter 3

I am finally getting around to finishing and updating this story! I'm honestly not too sure where it's going right now, but I have an idea for this chapter at least. I have an image up for the story by the way, I hope you guys like it!

Crossing Paths is officially off hiatus! And we're going back to Sarah's point of view! To save you guys from going back to look at the first chapter, I'll just say that Sarah and Elliot are off to a party in the city tonight for a short recap…alright? :P Enjoy! (:

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Parties like these ones were the ones I hated.

I mean, 5 years ago, I would have been one of the girls in their too tight dresses up at the bar, taking shots, looking for some loser to hook up with. But that wasn't my life anymore, and I was glad of it. I didn't miss it one bit, and I was happy that I had moved on from just being another drunk slut of the world. Now I had Elliot, and I was happy again.

It was Elliot's brother Kenneth's birthday. He was turning 19 tomorrow, and his party was tonight. I personally didn't really want to go to the party here tonight, but I went for Elliot, since I knew he loved these kinds of parties. My role at these things was sitting alone, on a bar stool, and sip my coke for hours, until Elliot is ready to leave. It wasn't really my idea of fun, but I didn't really know what was lately. I dealt with it though. There were far worse things I could be doing right now.

Just then, I saw Jake walking up, a glass of beer in one of his hands.

"Sarah!" He greeted, slamming his drink down on the bar counter. "Sup?" He asked, still sounding like a teenaged boy. I guess some things just never changed.

"Hey Jake!" I replied smiling, giggling a bit. "And not too much," I continued. "Just…this," I said, looking around at the bar, and everyone in it.

Jake's hands fell onto his legs, and he looked at me, his eyes meeting mine.

"You okay Sarah?" He asked, sounding more serious then usual.

I looked back at my brother, and smiled.

"Yeah, just bad memories," I sighed, forcing a smile. I looked around at everyone else having fun around me. Kenneth was dancing with one of my sisters, and Elliot was dancing with the other one. It didn't bother me much, since I knew that there would never be anything going on there.

"If you say so…" Jake said, sounding unsure. "So how's everything going for you? It feels like we haven't talked in a long time!"

He was right there…we haven't talked since Christmas. Even though we had reconciled things, Jake and I were nowhere near as close as we used to be, or close at all for that matter. Jake and Elliot used to be close too, but after getting in a big argument over a girl a few years ago, they had drifted apart a lot too. Of course, I wasn't around then, so I missed all that.

"It's alright I guess," I shrugged. "I got a job a few weeks ago. Wendy's. It doesn't pay good, but it's a start," I explained. "For the car…Elliot paid for it. I owe him, big time."

Jake shook his head in disbelief.

"I still can't believe that they never found the car!" He shouted. "I just wished that there's something, anything that we could've done!"

"And report my little brother as a suspect to the police?" I asked. Even though no one had heard from Mike since his departure, there's no way I would rat him out. That would not help matters at all. "Lying to the cops was the best way out of that one."

Jake smiled.

"You're a really good person Sarah," Jake told me smiling. "You've come a long way, you know that?"

I sat there, and couldn't help but let out a huge smile. Hearing that from my brother was amazing. Maybe I have come a long way. Maybe Jake and I really would reconnect someday, to relive how close we were growing up. Maybe.

Just then, I saw Calvin calling Jake over.

"Yo, shots man?" He asked Jake with a grin, holding up a bottle of Jack. Jake nodded, then turned to face me, standing up.

"Catch you later?" He asked with a smile, as he started to walk away.

"Yep, for sure," I mumbled, looking at the ground, unsure of what else to do. I looked around at everyone else. They all seemed to be having fun; something I seemed to be incapable of doing these days. I had fun when I used to drink, not that I remembered much of it, but it was fun at the time. I knew I could never go back though. I mean, look how far I've come in just 3 years! I was happy with where I was right now.

Just then, a bunch of police officers ran into the bar, interrupting my thoughts. They looked around, and I looked at them, alarmed. Then I saw them start to run towards me. I panicked.

"Sarah Baker?" One of them, a young, 20 something year old asked.

I bit my lip nervously before I answered, scared of what they wanted. I saw Jake and Elliot start to walk towards me, wondering what was going on as well. I looked at them confused.

_What was going on?_

"That's me," I told the cop, just as the guys got over to my side of the bar. Jake and Elliot were immediately by my side, and the rest of our families were coming over to see what was up.

"Is everything okay, officer?" Elliot asked. The officer smiled in return. I sighed in relief.

"We have found the car that your family had reported missing a few months ago," he replied. "There isn't too much damage, and you will receive some money back for the debts you paid on it."

I looked at Jake and Elliot, wide eyed. This meant that Mike had for some reason ditched it somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and had likely just gone back to school. That was my guess.

"Now, are there any suspects you can think of that would do this?" He asked us, eyeing us carefully. I looked at Jake, who shrugged.

"There's no one I can think of outside of our family," I told the officer, which technically wasn't a lie.

The officer nodded in acknowledgement.

"Alright then. We're going to put this case to rest, but if you know anything, just give us a call," he told us, walking out towards the door with the other officers. Jake eyed me suspiciously.

"Really Sarah?" He asked, shaking his head. "We can't keep this a secret much longer! The cops might catch on."

"He's right," Elliot agreed. "If there's anything I've learned about cops, it's that you can't ignore them," he explained. "They'll still be looking into the case, no matter what they say. It will always be there, Sarah."

I sighed. They were right in a way, I suppose. But it didn't make sense. Ratting out Mike wouldn't help him, or anyone in our family at all; if anything, it would just make the situation worse.

"What do you suggest we do then?" I asked the guys.

"Find out why he did it," Jake joked. "And ask why he's such an immature little twerp who should just grow up and get over himself," he added, rolling his eyes.

"Why don't Sarah and I go see him?" Elliot asked, looking at me with a smile. I widened my eyes. Maybe that would be a good idea!

"Hey, I wasn't actually serious guys…" Jake laughed.

"I like the sound of that," I said with a smile. "It's a good plan…but I think I should go alone; Mike and I have stuff to talk about dating back much further than this whole car incident. He might think you being there is some sort of bribe," I added, looking at Elliot.

"I understand," Elliot said with a smile.

The night wrapped up shortly after that. It all flew by fairly quickly. Jake and Elliot took some more shots, and before I knew it, it was time to go home. I helped a drunken Elliot outside, and into the car. We sat down, and rolled down the windows. As I was about to drive off, Jake stumbled out into the middle of the road, right by a corner.

"G'night Sarah," he said smiling, his words slurring together. I sighed, and poked my head out the window. Elliot shook his head at how bad Jake was at holding his liquor. Some things never changed.

"Jake, get out of the middle of the road, before somebody-"

A black Mercedes racing around the corner interrupted my words, as it struck my little brother head on, simply driving on as if nothing had happened.

"Phone 911!" I shouted to Elliot, as I ran outside onto the road, tears quickly forming in my eyes. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be real…

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Cliffhanger! ;P I promise a quicker update this time! Sorry about the wait again, I'm determined to finish this story!

Thanks for reading and reviewing!

~Lauren


	4. Chapter 4

Okay I know, another super long update…please don't kill me :/ I really do like where I was going with this story though and I am determined to finish it. After a lot of thought, I have decided what to write for this chapter and I really hope everyone who is still reading this story enjoys!

Also, I wrote the chapter with Mike being in his university class a long time ago and I didn't know that a teacher was supposed to be a prof so please forgive me for my lack of knowledge back in the day ahaha, anyways enjoy the chapter everyone (:

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Mike groaned as he waited in line at the administration office that was in his class building. He had received a note from a messenger to come here and wait for further instructions. He had no clue what he was here for, but the note said that it was urgent and that he had to come quick. Part of him was scared that it was the police coming to charge him with stealing the car. He knew that it was wrong to just steal the car and leave it in a ditch, but he was really angry at the time. He needed to have his sister suffer somehow and having her lose the rental car seemed like a good choice at the time. Mike knew that this could be on his record permanently, but he felt like it wasn't that bad of a crime to commit. It wasn't like he murdered someone or anything.

"Next?" The blonde lady sitting at the desk called. Mike grabbed the note given to him from his jean pocket and walked up to the desk.

"I was told to come here," Mike told the lady, passing the note over to her. The lady took the note from Mike and read it over for a moment before speaking.

"Ah, Mike Baker?" She asked, looking up at Mike.

"Yeah, that's me," Mike replied dryly. Part of him wanted to make a snarky remark back at the lady. If he wasn't Mike Baker, why would he be standing here with the note? Mike knew she was an authority figure though and kept his mouth shut.

"Your sister is here," the lady told him.

"My sister?" Mike asked. He was definitely shocked that someone from his family was here to see him after he had taken off so abruptly from his dad's funeral. He hoped that it was anyone but Sarah though. Mike was definitely not in the mood to see her anytime soon.

"She is waiting for you outside the university center. I was told that there was a family emergency," the lady added. "I understand that it is the middle of the semester, but if you need time to go home and be with your family we can work out some arrangements for you to make up for the work you're going to be missing," she explained, her face sympathetic as she spoke.

"Family emergency?" Mike questioned as he walked away, still confused. He knew that his dad had recently passed away, so it definitely wasn't his dad. He wasn't talking to his family, but deep down he did still care about them and didn't want to lose any of them.

Mike continued his way out of the building as he felt his stomach start to churn. As much as Mike wanted to pretend that he didn't care about his family, it was hard. He was really nervous as he started to walk over to the university center. He went into his pocket and pulled out his Marlboros and his lighter, lighting himself a cigarette.

Mike knew that smoking was bad and he never intended to become a smoker when he was younger. Like all kids of his generation, he was brought up with the fact that smoking was bad and caused many health problems later in life. However, like many other teenagers, Mike fell into peer pressure and began smoking during high school. Mike spent a lot outside in the smoking area during the early years of high school as all his childhood friends became smokers. He felt left out watching them, so he eventually joined in and became addicted as well. He didn't exactly like the taste of cigarettes, but Mike liked how they made him feel calm and relaxed while he smoked them. Mike did intend to quit soon because he didn't want to become a smoke for the rest of his life. He also didn't know how he would explain his smoking habit to his mom if she ever found out. His parents never found out when he was a teenager due to Mike spending a lot of time in his room and his parents having eleven other children to watch over. He wanted to keep it that way.

As he continued walking towards the university center, Mike smoked his cigarette quickly so whichever sister was here to see him wouldn't catch him smoking. He figured that it would be either Nora or Lorraine here to see him. Kim and Jessica were in school as well so he doubted that they would be coming for him. Mike also doubted it would be Sarah since she had likely gone back into hiding after the funeral like he had. Sarah was very good at running away from her problems and she had been doing it for years. The only reason that Sarah was actually able to be reached for her their father's funeral was the national database that Mike had access to at Harvard. Mike could care less about ever seeing his sister again, but he knew that his mother really wanted Sarah at the funeral so he managed to locate her. The last thing Mike wanted to do was upset his mother right after she had just lost her husband.

Right as Mike reached the quad, he kept his eyes open for Nora or Lorraine. Both his oldest sisters already had children and were more like second mothers to Mike when growing up rather than sisters because of their large age difference. Mike put out his cigarette and kept looking around for a familiar face as he walked into the building. Right away, Mike spotted Sarah sitting on one of the benches about twenty meters away. His heart immediately dropped when he noticed who had come for him. Beside Sarah on the bench was none other than Elliot Murtaugh. Mike had briefly seen him at the funeral a couple of months ago, but besides that, Mike hadn't seen him in years. Elliot was easy to recognize though and he still looked mostly the same. Mike wanted to avoid being spotted for as long as possible, but Elliot quickly noticed him. He nudged Sarah, and his sister quickly noticed Mike standing there. She immediately got up and ran over. Elliot followed right behind her.

"Mike," Sarah said, running short on breath from running over. "You've got to come home." As Mike looked at his sister, he could see smudges around her eyes. Her face was pink, and it looked like she had been crying recently. Mike wanted to be sympathetic, but he knew he had to keep giving her the cold shoulder like she deserved.

"I'm kind of in the middle of midterms right now," Mike grumbled. He wanted to be tough on the outside, but on the inside he was very scared about what could be wrong. He didn't know why Elliot was here with Sarah either. Mike knew that Elliot talked to the Bakers and everything, but he wasn't close with anyone anymore. Elliot was close with Jake a long time ago, but they had a fallout years ago. Mike also figured that this emergency had nothing to do with Jake. Mike was more scared that it had something to do with his mom, since she was getting older and everything.

"I can't exactly leave right now," Mike added, making sure he glared at Sarah as he spoke.

Sarah sighed and glanced up at Elliot for a moment. Elliot wrapped his arm around Sarah as she looked down at the ground. Judging by their interactions, Mike guessed that the two of them had gotten back together. Mike never really had a problem with Elliot, but he had no idea what the guy saw in his sister after she had showed everyone how terrible of a person she was.

"Mike, it's Jake," Elliot said quietly, sadness in his voice that Mike hardly recognized due to it getting deeper over the years. "It's really bad," Elliot added. "They're trying to get the whole family together, just in case it gets worse," he explained, his voice strained.

Right as Elliot brought up Jake's name, Mike didn't know how to react. His body froze in place. He wanted to say something, but Mike couldn't come up with any words to say. Growing up, Jake was the brother that Mike was closest to. They had drifted apart over the years after Sarah had disappeared, but Mike still cared about Jake a lot. Mike didn't know what happened to Jake, but he already felt sick to his stomach just thinking about it.

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And I'll end the chapter on a cliffhanger! I'll give more details on what happened to Jake next chapter, which will not take two years to update, I promise! I hope you guys enjoyed this though, reviews are highly appreciated ;)

~Lauren


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